Nothing could be said about our museum without first
recognizing the efforts of our founder Herb Bramley. Herb started
his career with the Long Beach Fire Department on April 1, 1946 and early on he had the vision to someday preserve the
rich history of the Long Beach Fire Department in a place for
firefighters and the public to visit. Herb has always had a high
degree of dedication and has been involved with the Long Beach Fire
Department in several capacities: as a firefighter, Credit Union
founder/manager, and as the founder of our museum. The Long beach Fire
Department was first formed in 1897 making the department 110 years
old. Herb Bramley has been an important part of the Long Beach Fire
Department history for over 60 years and still makes VERY
important contributions today.

The mission of our museum is to collect, preserve, and
display the deeply rich history of the Long Beach Fire Department.
Our collection has grown over time from little more than an idea and
one old fire truck to a collection that can show the evolution of
fire fighting in the City of Long Beach and
the fire service. Early in American history there was no organized
fire protection; the only form of fire protection were leather
buckets that every home was required “by law” to have. Our
collection begins with these buckets and transitions to equipment
for carrying tools, hoses, and ladders that were pulled by volunteer
firemen running through the streets of Long Beach. Next we show two
examples of horse drawn apparatus that very closely resembles the
first two horse drawn apparatus that the Long Beach Fire Department
purchased in 1906. We have our 1907 Amoskeag Steam engine displayed
so we can demonstrate how the machinery of the steam engine works
without building a fire in the boiler. We have managed to add to
the collection over the years to include 10 vehicles used by the
Long Beach Fire Department from a 1901 hand pulled hose cart to a
1965 Mack fire truck; and 5 apparatus that match ones the Long Beach
Fire Department once used.

The museum is completely staffed by dedicated volunteers who
come from all walks of life; students, civilian, retired civilians,
and retired Long Beach firefighters. We have tracked our volunteer hours over the
past few years and recently logged over 600 hours for December of
2006. We feel that it is important to get out into the community; we
do this by taking apparatus to community events like safety fairs,
school carnivals, fire department static displays, and driving in
local parades. Our museum is very proud that schools, summer youth
programs and the YMCA have sent field trips to visit us. Memorial Hospital
and the Veterans Administration Hospital have also sent patients for
recreation field trips. Over the years the museum has had nothing
less than complete support from every Fire Chief, administration,
and both the civilian and safety members of the department. When
the museum was still young we started a program to raise funds by
recycling aluminum cans and with your help this has grown to become
a significant source of revenue for us; payroll deduction has also grown into a good source of income In short the success of the
museum has some to do with the volunteer staff and mostly to do with
all the support that we receive from everyone. From the staff we
say thank you.